COUNTRY NEWS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 369, 14 June 1911, Page 3

COUNTRY NEWS.

(Own Correspondents). Kaeaea. Quite a gloom was cast over the district when news of the sad death of the little five months old son of Mr and Mrs Knight reached us. The funeral took place on Tuesday, when a number of friends of the parents followed to the Aria Cemetery, where the Rev. Mr Potts, Congregational minister, conducted the burial service. Deepest sympathy is felt for Mr and Mrs Knight by settlers in the district. A surprise came for most of the settlers here when Mr John Hearn brought home his bride. I am sure that I voice the sentiments of the community when I wish the happy pair long-continued happiness, health and prosperity. The Aria Co-operative Dairy Company held their first general meeting on Saturday, and are to be congratulated on the progress made. The district is not suffering to the same extent as elsewhere from the shortage of feed caused by the drought. Turnips have succeeded well, and grass is abundant. Aria. After continued agitation on the part of the local managers of the Aria and Kaeaea Schools, the Auckland Education Board has at last decided to vest the management of scholastic affairs in a committee, the one committee to have charge over both schools. At the householders' meeting held at Aria on June sth, the following Committee was elected: — Messrs Jas. Collins, C. J. Riddle, J. Dollimore, G. F. Nelson, T. Arnot, A. Smith, D. Finnigan. At a subsequent meeting of the Committee, Mr G.F.Nelson was elected Chairman and Mr C. J. Riddle Secretary. Maihihi. I am pleased to say this district is assuming a more prosperous aspect. Settlement is going on in strides and leaps, and it is entertaining to see the "land sharks" with their agents prowling about. Grass from the seed planted in the early autumn is coming on splendidly. Most of the settlers are anticipating that in the coming spring they will join that busy army which "extracts the lacteal fluid from the gentle bovine." Church service was held in the settlement this week by the Rev. A. Lemond, of Te Awamuu, and although it was a boisterous night, the service was well attended. Settlers in this and surrounding districts to whom census papers have been delivered, are puzzling themselves how the Government get such full and correct returns—when our papers are still lying here uncollected. Kiritehere —Moeatoa. Soft, warm showers of rain are falling, and the blackness of the char-coal-coloured hills is giving place to a vivid green — whilst some striking contrasts of these two primeval shades are to be observed. Rye-grass has got a start of the slower growing grasses, which it shelters under its rapidly expanding leaves. Roads and tracks are becoming soft and slushy as a result of the continuous rains.

For nine to ten miles the Kiritehere road is wide enough for vehicular traffic, with the exception of two or three awkward corners, and an unbridged creek or two. If these few improvementg were effected, we should be in possession of a fairly good and wide road to Marokopa heads. The rapid development of the dairy industry in these parts will require the making of wide roads in order that cream, wool, provisions, wire and all the other produce and necessities of go-ahead country life may be easily carried to and fro within the district It is a life of strenuous work and bustle, where time is money; and money lost by the present primitive methods o,f transport —horse-sled and pack-horse —is not easily replaced in the settlers' pocket by hard toil on the land. A certain Reverend Father, who we shall call "Father O'X," paid a visit, so the story goes, to a section of his congregation living in a certain out back settlement in the North Island. Dinner was in progress, and the season was the height of summer, whilst the midday sun beat down on the shingle covered roof of the little bush dining room. The wild native birds were silent, in the shaded retreat among the green trees, contentedly awaiting the advent of cooler evening before breaking forth into their full-throated symphony. Father O'X was a fresh arrival from the Ould Counthry, and was telling his hosts some stories of country life descriptive of the old land. During a pause in the conversation, the shrill, strident and continuous wail of "mason-bees" at work plastering up inert spiders in tiny cubical clay cells in convenient crevices between the loosely nailed shingles— seemed to resound with greater persistence than usual from the shelter of the walls. Father O'X became interested, and listened attentively awhile to the unusual sounds. "Those little birds must come close to the house in this country," remarked he. "I can hear them singing just outside. Isn't it wonderful, and how they keep it up, too. Dear! Dear! Who would have thought to hear birds so close to the house in such a wild country as this. Shure, it's a way of taming them you must have!" His listeners gasped, and then smiled. It was merely one of those little surprises that the backblocks sometimes spring on strangers. Mr John Bell has just imported a light spring dray to run on the road between Kiritehere and Marokopa. Much good work has been done on this road in widening it and improving bad portions of it, and much remains to be done before it can be described as

a full width road all the way up the Kiritehere valley. For the greater part of the distance from Marakopa this road, cleared to the full, width, runs on almost a dead level, through fertile river flats eminently , suited for dairying purposes. The hills, undulating from these flats to the height of several hundred feet, are, in a direct air line, only a few miles from the sea, which latter imparts by fresh salt-laden breezes, a peculiar freshness and flavour to the grass much enjoyed by the stock. The evidence of this feature may be seen by the observant visitor coming in from the central regions of the Island. The land is composed for the most part, of decayed rock, known to some as a kind of rubble, in which are to be found traces of marine shells petrified into a species of soft rock, which at first hardens and subsequently decomposes and disentegrates after becoming exposed to atmospheric action. Some of this rock, when tested shows traces of volcanic ash, picked up no doubt with the marine plants and shells when these masses of rock were part of the ocean bed in that dim and distant past, when the forebears of humanity were probably, if we accept the views of the evolutionist, mere wriggling "amoba" on some shady shelf of sand, and were the playthings of the tides of that ancient sea. Who shall say ! The breed of sheep most in favour in this locality is the Romney-Lincoln cross, which is hardy, yields a good fleece, and thrives well on the hills, besides another good feature in the rearing of a hardy, well-shaped lamb that matures early.

The widening of the Kiritehere-Mangakokopu-Mangaohae road is a much discussed matter with settlers of the district. This is the main mail and connecting route between Marokopa and Te Kuiti. It is the route, for a good .part of the distance, that the Marokopa-Te Kuiti telephone line will follow when it is started. The making and widening of the Arapae bridle track is another matter of great local moment. Why the work on this "road" —in giving it the dignity of that title I am aware that [ am to be compared with one who would term a child's wooden sand ehovel a full-blown spade—has not been proceeded with is nothing less than astonishing. The widening of this important short cut to Te Kuiti, and evolving it into a dray road, would be a boon of boons. I intend hunting up statistics concerning this particular road; then, when I have both arms full, I shall lay in wait for the Chiefannexer of Settlers' Road Grant Money, and smother him with the evidence of his guilt—according to the conditions prescribed by the Roads Act, backed up by the Lays of Ancient Rome and the historic example contained therein as a precedent. If anything is to be done, it must of course be done legally, and in a fashion descirbed by "Uncle Jones" as "getting on ther rite side of ther law, and on the wind'ard side of ther politicals in power."

The delegates of the Ratanui settlers met the Directors of the Marokopa Dairy Company at Marokopa on the 4th inst. A satisfactory arrangement was made in reference to supplying cream from Ratanui to the Marokopa factory.

Marokopa. Early Monday morning, with full tide at 3.30, the. fl.s. Jane, Captain Green in command, departed from Marokopa port. It is worthy of note that although the river v?aa a normal level, and the tide the lowest neap, the vessel, in spite of her depth in the water (heing keel-bottomed) negotiated the bar without mishap. It is believed that were the drift sand checked by the planting of marram grass a much greater depth of water in the channels would result, and the district would have a port perhaps the superior of Patea. The annual meeting of householders took place in the school house last Monday evening. The following were elected to act as a School Committee for the ensuing year: —Messrs John Wouldes, E. C. Stanley, D. Wiley, Taumaranga, Huirama. Mr Wouldes was subsequently elected Chairman and Mr Stanley Secretary. It was resolved that a letter be written the authorities urging that four acres of land be purchased for a school site, the area to include that at present occupied by the school buildings, fences, etc., as these improvements had been effected by the householders on private land, the property of the Milling Company. The school has been established for three and a half years, and the need for a suitable paddock for pupils' horses had long been felt. Some of the pupils have to ride three to four miles to school.